Existential Science Fiction

Ryan Lizardi

doi:10.5771/9781793647368

Summary

This book explores contemporary existential science fiction media, including film, television, and video games, and their influence on society’s conceptions of memory, identity, and humanity. Most poignantly, Ryan Lizardi argues, are the ways in which a recent cluster of science fiction media, including Gravity (2013), Interstellar (2014), Legion (2017-2019), Westworld (2016-present), Soma (2015), and Death Standing (2019), among others, present a vision of the future that is inextricably tied to an exploration of humanity that is more contemplative and comparative than traditional science fiction. The combination of the existential nature of this current trend in science fiction with the genre’s ability to manifest these abstract concepts in a generic environment that is historically focused on new frontiers and ideas creates a powerful set of media texts that ask audiences to contemplate what it means to exist, think, and connect as human beings. Scholars of media studies, film studies, television studies, genre studies, and philosophy will find this book particularly useful.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2022
ISBN-Print: 978-1-7936-4735-1
ISBN-Online: 978-1-7936-4736-8
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 158
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
2. 1. Some Definitions and Heuristics No access
  2. Brief Chapters Overview No access
1. Early Science Fiction Films No access
2. 1950s Science Fiction Film No access
3. Conclusion No access
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) No access
2. Solaris (1972) and Solaris (2002) No access
3. Blade Runner (1982) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017) No access
4. Contemporary Existential Precursors No access
5. Conclusion No access
6. Note No access
1. Gravity (2013) No access
2. Ad Astra (2019) No access
3. Conclusion No access
1. Interstellar (2014) No access
2. Arrival (2016) No access
3. Conclusion No access
4. Note No access
1. Annihilation (2014) No access
2. Annihilation (2018) No access
3. Authority and Acceptance (2014), Briefly No access
4. Conclusion No access
5. Note No access
1. A Legion of Fractured Identities No access
2. Continuity of Identity in a Fractured World No access
3. Conclusion No access
4. Notes No access
1. Westworld (1973) No access
2. Westworld Television Series No access
3. Conclusion No access
1. Bioshock (2007–2012) No access
2. Assassin’s Creed (2007–present) No access
3. Conclusion No access
1. SOMA (2015) No access
2. Death Stranding (2019) No access
3. Conclusion No access
Concluding Remarks No access Pages 143 - 146
Bibliography No access Pages 147 - 154
Index No access Pages 155 - 156
About the Author No access Pages 157 - 158